first peek
One of the fondest memories of my childhood is marathoning all 10 (at the time) Pokémon movies in a 24-hour period. I wept when Entei sacrificed himself for Molly and cheered when Latios and Latias rocketed over the city of Alto Mare. From the half-broken Pokémon Red cartridge I acquired at a garage sale to the Pokémon Diamond game that I bought two full guidebooks for, I have long been a Pokémon fan. Now, Pokémon Go has swept over the world, but I remain skeptical. I have been in Europe for the past 11 days, so after hearing whispers of Pokémon mania sweeping Vancouver I thought that returning home would be like Jim waking up in 28 Days Later — the city barely recognizable. OK, so returning has not been that dramatic, but there has been a noticeable change. Many friends have downloaded the game, and I constantly see strangers chasing their next catch around campus. Pokémon Go may require players to explore their surroundings in real life, but it would be a stretch to claim that this is actually encouraging social interaction or exploration. Look at any picture of one of the many Pokémon Go meetups currently happening around the world and you’ll see large gatherings of players. One might even think that this is a positive thing.
But a group of 100 people staring blankly at their phones while ignoring each other does not constitute a ‘social’ experience. Look at the outrageous headlines about Go players getting run over by cars, wandering onto private property, or even onto SkyTrain tracks in Vancouver. This doesn't seem like the behaviour of those who are truly experiencing the world around them in an attentive or meaningful way.
Instead of living in the real world, Go players are stuck behind yet another screen. Moreover, exploration in the game isn't about exploring new areas or things, and even if that were to happen it wouldn’t be a direct consequence of the game. There are simply too many dangers and risks associated with this game for it to be excused entirely. So far there have been numerous incidents of individuals
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getting hurt while playing Pokémon Go, which include a sexual assault during a Go meetup, and even a teenager being shot and killed near Guatemala City. The game’s PokéStop feature has been exploited in many cases, with a memorial site for a toddler, the US Holocaust Museum, and cemeteries attracting large groups of ‘trainers.’ The danger with an augmented reality game like Go is that it uses the world as its game environment, without any regard for the real world’s complexities, dangers, and sensitivities. This is far from the sanitized and pictureperfect lands of Sinnoh or Kanto. So, where does the game go from here? Part of me believes that, like many crazes, the Pokémon Go fad will fizzle out in a couple of months. On the other hand, it is one of the most downloaded game apps of all time and may stay with us for a while yet. In this case, the developers need to improve the game to make it safer, and implement features that ensure players don’t engage in risky behaviour while playing. This will at least mitigate some of the harms I’ve mentioned. I also wonder whether the game’s popularity is simply a sign of the times. While I err on the side of social networks making us more social rather than less, Go seems like an entirely different beast. Perhaps it may be time to accept that games like Go are the new status quo: technological innovations that promise social interaction, but instead provide only meaningless distractions.
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The university has recently put forward an RFP (request for proposals) for developers for a $10million project to renovate part of the Burnaby campus. The area in question is the “plaza,” which begins at the Trottier Observatory and stretches down to the Convocation Mall fountain. “It’s a massive area,” chief facilities officer Larry Waddell told The Peak. The project aims to address the now-aging materials that were originally used to build the plaza, as well as issues such as leaking. The earthenware ceramic tiles that were used for the plaza have reached the end of their lifespan, and have been exposed to plenty of wear and tear over the years.
This is concerning because, while many may see the plaza as a floor, it is actually directly above both the AQ and Convocation Mall parkade. Said Waddell, “It’s a roof you can walk on.” Underneath the tiles is a waterproof membrane that protects the area below. Where will the $10 million for the project come from? The university will have to foot 25 percent of the bill; however, Waddell mentioned that the provincial government has “dramatically increased” the funding available for these types of projects since the election of the Liberals. Currently, SFU is also discussing plans to build a new life science building somewhere on
campus, in an effort to ease the burden on the aging Shrum Science Centre. While the project is primarily meant for practical purposes, the plaza may also see some cosmetic updates. The original tiling material is, according to Waddell, no longer available — this means the newly installed tiles will be of a different material, and possibly a different shape.
Don’t expect a huge change, though. “We want to be respectful of the existing campus,” Waddell said, adding that the university plans to stay true to the “original intent” of the architects
behind SFU’s design, including Arthur Erickson. The process for the RFP could stretch on in the next few months, as proposals are evaluated on a number of criteria. The first year of the project will be focused on planning and design work, then the following two years on construction. The project will only cover 20 percent of the area that needs to undergo renewal, as the entire plaza will need an upgrade eventually. However, part of the challenge the university faces is how to stagger the work to limit disruption to students and faculty. Imagine, said Waddell, the logistical difficulties that would be caused with having to replace all the tiles in Convocation Mall. “This work is going to be noisy, dusty, and disruptive.”
Maggie Li Peak Associate
US Army and Marine Corps will soon be able to generate their own power just by walking, all thanks to upcoming field trials of a device that originated in an SFU lab. Max Donelan, one of the directors of Bionic Power Inc., is a professor of biomedical physiology and kinesiology at SFU. Bionic Power's PowerWalk Kinetic Energy Harvester looks like a knee brace, but functions similar to the brakes on a hybrid car. When people walk, their muscles act as natural brakes for their body. The PowerWalk uses microprocessors to analyze the wearer’s stride and capture the energy that would normally be released as body heat. While the PowerWalk is predominantly meant to generate power, the device also decreases muscle fatigue and mitigates the risk of injury. Consequently, the technology is attracting a lot of attention within military circles, and was named one of Time magazine’s 50 Best Inventions of the Year in 2008. Donelan told The Globe and Mail that the US Army is trying to turn “science fiction” into a useful tool for its soldiers. The upcoming PowerWalk field trials are part of the Joint Infantry Company Prototype project, led by the US Army and Marine Corps. The project’s goal is to reduce the need for dangerous resupply missions and to reduce the weight that soldiers are taking into combat zones. Soldiers often carry up to 20 pounds of batteries on three-day missions. The PowerWalk can produce 10–12 watts of electricity per hour, which is enough to power four cell phones, or crucial equipment for a soldier deployed in a conflict. “Military organizations around the world are looking for ways to take weight off the backs of their troops,” Yad
Garcha, Bionic Power’s chief executive officer, said in a press release. “Wearing one of our PowerWalk harvesters reduces battery weight while providing continuous life-saving power in the field for communications, navigation, and optics. That’s a pretty compelling value proposition for military decision makers.” Using energy harvesting technology will both improve mobility and allow soldiers to carry other valuable supplies like food and water into remote locations, something that has been a major challenge for dismounted soldiers in the past. Colonel Brian Magnuson, director of the Marine Corps Expeditionary Energy Office, wrote in an online post that similar projects have been launched because “we were losing marines in combat while doing resupply predominately [sic] taking food and water up and down the battlefield in convoys which exposed them to enemy attack.” Bionic Power received a US$3.8-million contract with the US Army in 2012, and an additional US$1.27 million in 2015. The company also has contracts with the Canadian Department of Defence and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in the United States. “The US Army has a goal of harvesting 100 percent of the electrical power in the field for dismounted soldiers,” said Garcha in a press release last year. Field trials of the PowerWalk will start with the Marine Corps and the US Army by mid-2017. These trials will both help develop the PowerWalk to meet military needs, and prepare it for larger-scale production. Donelan told The Globe and Mail that he sees different possibilities in PowerWalk’s future. For example, he mentioned plans to export the device to developing countries to address the need for reliable power sources. In the meantime, Bionic Power Inc. will be making major strides in kinetic energy harvesting and soldier welfare in the coming year.
“Start now, so my daughter won’t be standing here in 20 years making the same requests,” one speaker said to applause, regarding the concerns about the federal government following through on its Paris Agreement pledges. On July 16, hundreds of concerned citizens met with Burnaby North-Seymour MP Terry Beech to weigh in on climate change and the proposed Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion. The town hall meeting was divided into brief presentations by Beech that explained the Liberal platform, followed by questions from the public. About 200 attendees packed the venue. Speaking to the issue of climate change, Beech explained the goals that the government has outlined in order to meet its emission reduction targets. In December 2015, Canada adopted the Paris Agreement, which sets the goal of limiting global warming to 2 C above pre-industrial levels by 2030. Despite Beech’s optimism, the Liberal government’s willingness to follow through on its promises was met with a mixed reaction by the audience. Another speaker expressed skepticism that the meeting would result
in any change at all, instead urging the attendees to “make it politically impossible for [the government] to not act.” As the meeting shifted topics to discussing the proposed Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion, the conversation grew markedly more personal. The pipeline, conditionally approved by the National Energy Board (NEB) on May 19, is a hotly contested development that would triple the current pipeline’s capacity to transport diluted bitumen from the tar sands to Burnaby, where it would be loaded into tankers in the Burrard Inlet. In 2014, around 100 protesters were arrested for occupying a site being used for geological surveys ahead of the pipeline construction. Many Burnaby residents present at the meeting lamented the fact that they would be put at greater risk of disaster should there ever be a spill or fire. One such spill in 2007 caused a geyser of oil to erupt from a breached pipeline under the street. About 234,000 litres of oil slicked nearby houses and flowed into the Burrard Inlet. Several speakers also made reference to the controversial process by which the NEB approved the pipeline. The Board has been accused of
not having enough political distance from the companies they regulate, after a former Kinder Morgan consultant was appointed by the Harper government in 2015. The Board has also been criticized for insufficient follow-up with projects that it has approved in the past. Addressing these comments, Beech spoke to the huge cultural change he has experienced in Parliament, emphatically stating that “It is our job to be the community’s voice in Ottawa, and not the other way around.” He also drew attention to the fact that the Trudeau government has promised to review the NEB approval process, and has added several more regulatory steps to the Trans Mountain Pipeline. Several attendees expressed appreciation that the meetings were being held at all, with one saying that it was a “huge contrast to our former experiences” with the Harper government. In a statement he provided after the meeting, Beech explained that SFU students are also important in shaping climate change policy. “I believe that we need to have SFU students and young Canadians [. . .] involved in developing a strong national climate change policy,” Beech said. He invited young people to attend the other meetings his office is holding over the summer, and asked them to “hold our government’s feet to the fire because, at the end of the day, my voice as an MP is made stronger and louder by you.”
SFU students are “engaging the policymakers of the future” with the Global Model NATO Summit, July 25–30. Students, academics, and defence experts from across the world will come to Vancouver to participate in the six-day conference. Students from around the world, including India, Africa, many European countries, the US, and all across Canada will be in attendance. NATO experts from
Belgium, Germany, and Canada will mentor and assist the participating students to develop their negotiation and diplomacy skills. “We’re creating an out-ofclassroom learning vehicle to prepare [students] for foreign service, diplomacy, international relations, and defence,” said SFU political science professor, Dr. Alex Moens. According to him, the Summit “moves past traditional education,” and has attendees learn by
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doing a simulation as close to the NATO experience as possible. Moens explained that this will be achieved first by committee work — the most important aspect of NATO decision-making — and second through a crisis response simulation where students will practice the first three critical steps of actual NATO crisis response. Students have an opportunity to get “real answers from real policymakers” in panel sessions with Q&A, said conference manager Cornel Turdeanu. Speakers include the Honourable Harjit Singh Sajjan, Minister of National Defence, and Colonel Ian Hope of the Canadian Armed Forces. Students will be “very close to the actual decision-makers” while interacting with NATO delegates at the conference, many of whom work closely with NATO’s Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg. The event is student-led, with mentorship from Moens, a self-described “guide” for the student team. “The leaders are gaining a tremendous amount of experience,” he added, noting that the students will be filling out grant proposals, negotiating with NGOs and government organizations, booking flights and hotel accommodations, creating agendas, and building skills in hosting and designing websites. The team’s grant proposals have so far been incredibly successful, bringing the Canadian Department of National Defence, Royal Canadian Navy, NATO Defence College, SFU’s political science and Hellenic studies departments, and even the Vancouver Canucks on board as sponsors. SFU students Cornel Turdeanu, Aleksandra Panic, and Sai Wong started SFU’s Model NATO club in 2015. They were inspired after attending a Model NATO Youth Summit in Latvia, and wanted to bring that experience to SFU and Canada. “It started as a dream, that one day we would host a summit at SFU,” Turdeanu told The Peak. The intention to host the summit came first, and the club came afterwards. “NATO stands for democracy, liberty, and the rule of law,” values that make Canada function, said Turdeanu, who grew up in Romania, a former Soviet-controlled country. Moens shared the same sentiments, having seen East Germany in the 1970s before the fall of the Soviet Empire. “We call it ‘Global Model NATO’ for a reason,” said Dr. Moens. “It is a framework for different allies and partners to discuss and reach consensus-based decisions.”
David Newman has lived in Canada for 11 years and earned his PhD at SFU. Now he’s being told he will have to leave the country. Newman has been denied permanent residence status as a result of Canada’s unique express entry system for immigration. The system works by allotting ‘points’ to immigrants based on several socio-economic factors. Those with the highest points gain priority in applying for permanent residence in Canada. Newman is 45 years old, which awards him zero points under the system. He also does not gain any points for his international work experience, as he has lived in Canada for over a decade. However, the biggest obstacle he faces is his inability to earn the 600 points available to those who have a permanent full-time job. As a sessional instructor, Newman fails this criteria. Newman explained to The Peak that given his seniority in his department, he has effective ongoing employment — however, technically, each contract lasts for only a semester. Now he can no longer work in Canada. How does Newman plan to proceed? Having left his home country of New Zealand in 1987, he remarked, “I’m like a foreigner in New Zealand.” He plans to leave for Vietnam this August where he will rejoin his wife and mother-in-law, who is currently ill. Newman’s options for the future remain
limited. Officials have encouraged him to wait until the policy can be changed; however, he is unable to work in Canada in the interim, and his son, who is 14, will also be unable to attend school here. Said Newman, “What am I going to live on? I don’t [have] any real choice but to leave at this point.” He continued, “It’s very frustrating. I believe that common sense will ultimately prevail and there will be a way for us to continue and stay here.” What he hopes is that by appealing to Immigration Minister John McCallum, he will be allowed to apply on the basis of a humanitarian or compassionate ground. The problem is that since Newman originally applied for residence under economic grounds, he cannot switch. “I understand that [issue],” he said. “But for a 14-year-old, this isn’t about economics — this is where he grew up.” The Newman family has received a groundswell of support from the Communications Student Union, as well as VP academic and provost Jon Driver, who will be writing a personal letter to the immigration minister. Newman is even working through the office of local MP Terry Beech for support. Newman feels as though he has made a significant contribution to Canada, citing the “thousands” of students who have gone through his classes at SFU. “Many have felt that I have contributed to their growth and development in a positive way,” he said. He expressed his disappointment at the bureaucratic technicalities that have caused so much disruption in his life. “I meet the spirit of what the immigration department requires,” he said, “[just] not the technical requirements of how it is met.”
Opinions
The end of university for me is nigh, and it feels like an impending disaster. For some reason, I assumed I would feel ready and excited for the future. Instead, my days have been filled with anxiety. Will I find a decent job in my field? Will I find any decent job? What skills do I have? Am I qualified for anything? Have I just wasted the last four years of my life learning nothing?
Go to a good university and get a good job. That is the narrative I have always been fed. But as I look at job applications for the positions I’m interested in,
Let’s not allow the media to claim that this is a ‘race war.’ Referring to it as a war tells us that we should take sides and be divided; that at the end of the day, one side must win. Black people are not systematically aiming to kill white people. There is no ‘black side’ and there is no ‘white side.’ After five police officers were killed in Dallas, the New York Post published a headline in bold letters saying “Civil War,” and a smaller caption that read, “Four cops killed at anti-police protest.” Following the Dallas
all I see are qualifications that I don’t have. As my graduation date edges closer, my stress and fear increase. Nobody wants to be that college graduate who couldn’t handle the ‘real world.’ Maybe I am an anomaly. Maybe I did not handle business the way I should have. Whenever I speak to other students like myself, the conversations highlight my anxiety and uncertainty. The underlying fear for me has consistently led to one question: “What if I’m not good enough?” University is a security blanket. I know the classes I need and how to pass them. I am hitting something that society considers a major milestone. I am in an environment that nurtures my thoughts and ideas. I am the focus of a system. Once I leave
shooting, social media blew up with the trending hashtag #BlueLivesMatter, in support of the police officers. The Blue Lives Matter movement assumes that police officers in America are disparaged and discriminated against. Blue Lives Matter may be meant to defend the importance of police officers, but it’s a useless movement — America has already made it clear that they matter through the power they are afforded in society. Let me make myself very clear: what happened in Dallas was certainly not OK. I, too, send
Adam Van der Zwan / Opinions Editor
May 30, 2016 opinions@the-peak.ca
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that security blanket behind, I will no longer be nurtured. I will have to fight for my voice and my ideas to be heard. I will have to start from the bottom again. So, if this is the true beginning of life — having to start a career from scratch — what happens when you do not know exactly what you want? You may have a vague idea of what you want your career to be. You may be overwhelmed by the many things you are interested in trying and the limited time you have to try them. Personally, the former is the root of my anxiety. The reality is making itself clear: vague dreams do not help you. I am at a point where if I dream about doing something or working somewhere, I have to make a plan that is practical and reliable. I envy people who are sure of what they want and how to get it. More than ever, I will have to face the kind of human being I really am. Will I take this fear and work hard to be a useful member of society? Will I fall into despair and let the uncertainty and anxiety rule my ability to dream? The truth I find may not be what I want to see, but this is all part of being an adult, I guess. It sucks.
my condolences and prayers to those who lost their loved ones a couple weeks back. Micah Johnson, an African-American veteran, decided to shoot the police officers because he was angry and fed up with watching other African-Americans being killed by police with impunity.
Regardless of his reasoning, he should not have done what he
did. He was legally killed by the state, end of story. However, the people responsible for the unnecessary deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, and so many others, have not been given proper punishment. In fact, the cop who murdered Castile in his car was then sent on paid administrative leave. Yes, police officers’ lives matter, but their killer is now dead. The ones who take black lives essentially get sent on vacation. The Blue Lives Matter trend has been proliferating on social media even though an
officer is only “blue” for up to 40 hours a week; a black person is black 24/7. People are bothered by Black Lives Matter because it’s not inclusive of “all lives.” Yet, when people support Blue Lives Matter, the All Lives Matter people remain silent. All Lives Matter is used to derail the Black Lives Matter conversation, so why wouldn’t they oppose Blue Lives Matter, too? Where are the All Jobs Matter protesters? I do not support Blue Lives Matter because America has made it clear whose lives already matter. After Dallas the world mourned over the lost blue lives, yet when blue lives take black lives, it seems no one sheds a tear. #BlackLivesMatter seeks to protect black lives, while #BlueLivesMatter seeks to shield the guilty.
Mann Written by AmneetPhotos by Chiara Kreutz u
Layout by Andrea F
Rio-ready Ho-Garcia looks forward to making SFU pro SFU will not be without representation at the Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics. In the opening ceremonies, keep your eyes peeled for student Gabriel Ho-Garcia, playing men’s field hockey for Team Canada. The Peak caught up with Ho-Garcia after he’d attended a barbecue held in honour of those going off to compete in Rio. Leaving on July 25, Ho-Garcia was looking forward to his Olympic debut as an athlete on Canada’s men’s field hockey team. You could see the excitement in his face. The field hockey team’s first match in the Olympics is on August 6, giving the players about 10 days to warm up and get acclimatized to the temperature, time change, and, what Ho-Garcia emphasized as a big one, humidity. While looking forward to stepping onto the world stage, he also looked back on his beginnings as an athlete. Ho-Garcia explained
how his mother enrolled him in soccer for his first sport: “I was kind of a chubby kid growing up, so my mom wanted to keep me active and out of the house,” he chuckled. He ended up being a huge soccer fan, but when the season ended he was left with nothing to do. Though the budding athlete’s mom vetoed baseball because it didn’t involve enough cardio, she found field hockey a suitable exercise when one of his friends recommended he try it out. “I never took field hockey seriously; it was always a second sport [to soccer],” Ho-Garcia admitted. He recalled that he started to dedicate himself more to field hockey when he made his first provincial team at age 14. The turning point in his career came when his soccer coach in Grade 12 told him he had to choose one sport because of time conflicts between the training sessions of soccer and field hockey.
“So that year, in Grade 12, I had to make the choice of dropping soccer,” Ho-Garcia said. “It was heartbreaking, I was devastated. So I didn’t really choose field hockey, I was kind of forced into it. “But now I’m so happy about the decision I made,” he reinforced. “I love field hockey.” Ho-Garcia outlined part of the brutal training schedule that athletes such as him take on leading up to the Olympics: “For a year and a half, we trained at 6:30 a.m. It was insane,” he recalled. “I would train at 6:30 a.m., shower, go to class right after, fall asleep in class, take no notes, and somehow still pass.” He described the month in between where the team trained at 6:30 a.m. for five days a week as the hardest month, “but it gave us the mindset of what it was going to take to qualify [for the Olympics]
oud on the world stage come August
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When asked how he stayed motivated to push through the most difficult practices, Ho-Garcia gave his most honest answer: “Truth be told,” he began, “I’m known on the team for being the slacker lazy guy.” But, reflecting back, he admitted that ever since the team qualified for the Olympics a year ago, he’s been a lot more motivated than he was before. “I’ve gone to the Commonwealth and the Pan Am games, and that was awesome,” he said. “But at the Olympics, the whole world is watching. Realizing that I’m representing Canada in front of the whole world has definitely made me a lot more motivated; I want to make my country proud.” When asked for any rituals he adheres to as an athlete, Ho-Garcia produced an impressive list. He always puts his left shin pad on first; he always kisses his wrist whenever he scores a goal; and, the most complex, he
wears two pairs of socks: the inner socks are worn on the correct feet, but the outer socks are worn on the wrong feet. And to pump him up pregame, he listens to Lana Del Rey. Actually, he listens to Lana Del Rey to pump him up for exams, too. “Lana Del Rey has gotten me through so many exams. Thank God for Lana Del Rey.” He’ll probably need the singer a few more times this fall: along with all that’s going on with his athletic career, Ho-Garcia is looking to complete his marketing and finance degree at Beedie School of Business. While excelling in athletics, he described himself as highly career-oriented as well. Along with a couple of Beedie friends, he initiated a startup company a couple years back in commercial and hospitality furnishing. They recently finished their first project at a lounge on Hastings, and are in negotiations with Spacecraft to furnish more office spaces.
Throughout both his athletic and academic endeavours, Ho-Garcia named his family as his biggest support system. “They’ve been there for me financially: when the junior [field hockey] team was self-funded, they made sure I could go on every trip and training camp. Before I got my licence, my mom would drive me to UBC three to four days a week for practice,” he remembered. If there’s one thing I picked up on during the interview, it was that despite all of his successes and the demands on his time, Ho-Garcia is a down-to-earth, easygoing person who isn’t afraid to make fun of himself. When asked about what he’s most looking forward to these next few weeks, he responded: “Walking out during the opening ceremonies in Rio. “Although you probably won’t be able to see me, because I’m so short.”
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Opinions
University is the lily pad of life that bridges high school and professional work. But is that all university is? A period in your existence where you stockpile grades to prove to some future employer or grad school that you’re a smart cookie? Isn’t this the time where we’re supposed to be finding those friends who we’ll still be meeting up with 20 or 30 years into the future? I’ve mostly lived by the idea that university is a place to obtain a great GPA. Theoretically, I can make friends anywhere, when I’m not paying money for education that will impact my applications to jobs and graduate school. With all that in mind, making friends hasn’t been at the top of my SFU to-do list. However, as I enter my third year atop Burnaby Mountain, it has slowly dawned on me that friends are just as important. After all, you’re going to school with the next generation of game changers, policymakers, and executives. This is a prime opportunity to make some great connections and try to find some of those ultra-rare friendships that do indeed follow you to the final senior class. It’s not easy trying to balance a social life and a top-notch educational career — particularly if you’re also working full-time. The key is to
try and find people who share your values; the ones who are totally cool with study group sessions on Bennett’s second level, or the ones who join you at Starbucks and Tim’s to have writing wars so those essays get done quickly.
Finding those particular people can be a pain in the ass — not only do you have to actually find them, but you have to talk to them and see if you like each other. Walking up to a group of people in MBC or a club can be absolutely petrifying. I didn’t enter The Peak office for months after I started writing for this wonderful collective. I was incredibly anxious and, honestly, scared of this group of people, who for me were more ideas than actual human beings at the time. But a lot of those people and others that I’ve met in classes, bonding over medieval literature
Adam Van der Zwan / Opinions Editor
opinions@the-peak.ca
or shitty Kant puns, share my drive for educational excellence as well as the desire to make friends and meet the people of tomorrow. My own balance is about 50 percent school, 25 percent work, and 25 percent friends. I feel like this ratio works really well for me, especially when I can overlap school and friends by studying together over sushi or coffee. While I recommend favouring school over friends (because the friends worth keeping will be the ones who understand), this balance isn’t for everybody. If you’re only here to barely pass your classes, then party it up. SFU has tons of people on campus looking for a good time, and those will be the connections you need to make in order to stay in a drunken stupor for the majority of your degree. But if you’re trying to get into medical school, law school, or some other post-undergrad life that requires miraculous grades, then it’s just nice to see you surface for an hour or so every week. The only people who see you are the ones in your classes, going to the same MCAT prep courses or sequestered in the same range of bookshelves that house law records. So study hard, but leave a little room in whatever way you can for friendships, old and new.
Forty-two percent of adults aged 20–29 live with their parents, according to Statistics Canada. Of those, Statistics Canada found that 90 percent don’t contribute to household expenses. Now, everyone’s situation is different, but I do believe that adults in their parents’ home should be contributing to the household. However, I don’t think that contribution should necessarily be monetary. The young adult doesn’t always choose whether or not to pay rent; it’s also a decision made by the parent(s). This means that the decision is a combination of socio-economic status and choice. There are also young adults who no longer live at home, but are still financially supported — through rent, food, transportation, or even spending money — by their parents. It could even be the kid’s choice to leave, and the parent(s)’ to fund it. Those lucky bastards. To put it bluntly, wealth makes or breaks the kinds of decisions families can afford to make. Some young adults can afford to move out, and some can’t. Some families can afford to house their children rent-free, and some can’t. Sadly, there’s no real way around that. There are also parental ideals involved. My family is by no means rich, but my mother doesn’t require me to pay rent, even though I have offered to many times in the past. For her, as long as I’m in school, she wants my money to
go towards my education and my life after school. But just because I don’t pay rent doesn’t mean I don’t contribute. I pay for groceries sometimes, and I pay my cell phone bill. Lumping all of us who don’t pay rent into a category akin to ‘freeloading’ isn’t fair. I do most of the cooking in my house, along with a lot of the yard work and some household cleaning. Those hours are not free. Sadly, many people see us as mooches just because our assistance doesn’t come with a dollar sign. I have lived on my own, paid all the bills and rent, and bought all my own food. I know it’s not easy, and young adults who can do all of that are admirable. Moving out, finding a place, and becoming a ‘real’ adult are all worthy of appreciation for someone’s ability to survive. Working several jobs and piling on student debt in order to afford a roof and school are life paths that many of us walk, but they are not the only roads through adulthood. There are many young adults who live at home out of financial necessity, and we pay for that not with blood or sweat, but in tears. We can’t choose our families. I know people with families that are horrible to them, but they have to stay because they can’t afford to live anywhere else. For many of us struggling to find work or focusing our efforts on school, moving out just isn’t realistic. While I agree that everyone should have to contribute in some fashion to the household, we shouldn’t be so narrow-minded as to assume the only contributions that are valuable are those with a dollar sign attached. So don’t call me a mooch.
Arts
Jess Whitesel / Arts Editor
May 30, 2016 arts@the-peak.ca
What We Live For is the sophomore studio album from American Authors, an indie-pop-rock band. If you’re looking for that feel-good soundtrack to your summer, this album needs to be in your hands ASAP. Bursting with infectious riffs and catchy lyrics, it’s highway karaoke-approved. Zac Barnett’s vocals have an indie edge, but pure rock power. The musicality throughout the record is amazing, and it feels like every song is better than the last. “I’m Born to Run” has all the makings of a youth anthem with A+ songwriting: “Give me grace / Bury my sins.” “Pride” is a bit experimental with banjo and spoken word. “Superman” and “Mind Body Soul” are relatively slow and mellow jams, but the former picks up with lots of confidence building up throughout, and the latter waits until the last moment to kick it off with big sound. There’s no way to go wrong with this album.
Conscious, the sophomore effort of sibling duo Broods, traverses the darker sides of life with emotional clarity and underpinnings of hope. The indie-pop album as a whole is saturated with melodramatic hyperbole and sentimentalism. It’s an ambitious confession dressed as an album that will feed not only your soul but your mind as well. “Free” is an anthem full of passion and fire that starts off the album at a high. The lyrics are pure determination and strength, and this flows all the way through the record. “Heartlines” is another favourite, sounding more like a Lorde track (she co-wrote it) than a Broods one. If you’re looking for something closer to Broods’ sound from their debut, then check out the more minimalist “Worth the Fight” or “Bedroom Door.” If you’re looking for a mellow ballad, Tove Lo is featured on “Freak of Nature,” and the dual vocals are incredibly impressive.
Damn, have there really been 10 albums by these guys already? I feel like it was only last week that I was jamming to the Switchfoot-laden A Walk to Remember soundtrack (circa 2002!). Where the Light Shines Through opens with the uptempo “Holy Water,” just in case you forgot that Switchfoot is a Christian alt-rock group. They build upon their tried-and-true songwriting to deliver an album that echoes the successes of their previous records. However, they also branch out a little, as shown best by “Looking for America.” Featuring a rap by Lecrae, the lyrics work well with the beat and overall feel to the tune, and the rap is apropos for the sentiment. “If the House Burns Down Tonight” has a classic rock vibe, whereas “I Won’t Let You Go” is the more classic Switchfoot ballad with powerfully emotional lyrics. However, the best track might just be “Float,” with its prominent bass, soft but liberal percussion, and well-written melodies.
“He was kind but useless.” “He was useless but kind.” This minute reversal frames Hirokazu Koreeda’s eternally generous Our Little Sister. In every sense — thematic, formal, structural — this film is distinctly Japanese. Its serene, quiet power wrapped up in traditions is at odds with how we think and make movies in the West. Like the work of Yasujir Ozu, the film is influenced by philosophical and religious ideas of immutability; namely, that life’s meaning is wrapped in one’s contribution to a cycle of birth, death, and rebirth — memories and traditions being the things that keep this pattern together. For a character to change the order of a sentence is to offer a place in this paradigm, to remember them, to grant them a meaningful legacy. This act of kindness and forgiveness is not without cost. A father ran off with another woman when his children were still young. He has passed away, and his three daughters have grown up and adjusted to a life with absent parents. The sisters live together in an old, creaky home that has been in their family for generations. The eldest utters the first sentence of this review as their father is being cremated, his ashes ascending to the sky in a cloud of smoke. There is a natural cycle in Our Little Sister: the cherry blossoms bud, bloom, and wither, the plum trees bear fruit then curl up, the seasons change, generations pass and new ones are born. Our Little Sister is a film about rewriting someone back into a family, giving them a place in the eternal. After the patriarch’s death, the three sisters find out that their father had another child, their half-sister, whom
they take back to their seaside town. She isn’t just adopted but fully immersed into the family, quickly considered one of their own. She is taught traditions, making her part of the family lineage. The climax is simple and easy to miss. The eldest sister, the matriarch of sorts, pens her half-sister’s height on the door frame along with the rest of the family, permanently engraving her memory into the foundation of the family. This idea manifests in the very structure of the film. Our Little
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Sister is free-flowing, like the tides that wash and retract along the shore. It is not organized around three acts, but moments of beauty, sadness, humour, and most of all love. For Koreeda, this cycle of death and rebirth is given meaning in the everyday: existence as a thing of wonder unto itself. Koreeda’s elaborate staging of these seemingly mundane moments, which would likely have been cut out of most American films, become the backbone of this one: a bike ride underneath cherry blossom trees, fireworks reflecting off the ocean, and sparklers spraying flashes of light in the backyard. Our Little Sister’s worldview is all-encompassing, linking natural processes like life and death to changes in economic and social conditions. It is also the story of one family’s place within this paradigm and the kindness and inclusion offered to those outside of it. Although the film tackles many subjects, such as the changing place of women, the effects of globalization on Japan, and the literal and economic death of a small town (the Japanese title translates to “Seaside Town Diary”), these things give way to something new and vibrant, yet also ephemeral. Our Little Sister begins and ends with a funeral, but you’d be hardpressed to find a more vivid and alive film this summer.
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Arts
Jess Whitesel / Arts Editor
arts@the-peak.ca
Humour
Hi, I'm Bernice, and I am a Christian. I go to church on Sundays, read The Bible, and believe that a guy named Jesus loves me. Now, I get a lot of curious inquiries about my faith, and while I have some great conversations, some things come up that are downright hilarious. Here are a few things that people have said to me upon finding out I am a Christian: “So, Jesus was a zombie since he rose from the dead, right?” I get it. Some dude rises from the dead and all we think about is whether he is comprised of rotting flesh and has an appetite for brains. The fact is, though, that Jesus knew he was going to die and rise again because he loves us. So, he's a predestined zombie, which makes him way cooler. Take that, The Walking Dead! “Wait, you're not allowed to fuck?” There's this magical thing that humans have — it’s called free will. I made the choice to not have sex until marriage and this vow was not forced upon me by some almighty deity who declared, “Thou shalt not fuck!” Hope you understand that, boo.
Justin Stevens / Humour Editor
July 25, 2016 humour@the-peak.ca
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“Church must be so boring — how do you stand going every week?” While I would love to chug alcoholic beverages and hook up with strangers, I enjoy actually functioning on Sunday mornings. Also, my church sets up their service inside a SilverCity movie theatre, so I get to go to a free epic concert on a movie theatre stage every weekend — with free food, of course. #BurstingStereotypeBubbles2K16 “The Bible is bullshit!” [Proceeds to rant against Christianity for 30 minutes] Gee, I would’ve loved to have a respectful two-way conversation about my faith and listen to why you disagree with it, but I guess you took the “I’m going to tear your beliefs apart without letting you get a word in edgewise” route instead. Welp, OK then. “Christians are preachy and selfrighteous AF.” Many people think that we are high and mighty and think ourselves better than everyone else, when we really aren’t. If you have ever met a Christian who has reinforced this stereotype, I am sincerely sorry, and I hope you whooped their ass off their imaginary pedestal.
1) Research assignments and expeditions would be all the more adventurous to take part in!
6) Skipping through a terrible lecture could be achieved by pressing "A" repeatedly.
2) Costly building renovations could be completed simply by getting the school a new graphics card.
7) Map waypoints would save you the trouble of getting lost all the time.
3) Stealing people’s belongings would become even easier (especially in the men’s locker room).
8) Instead of starting your undergraduate degree with money and having debt by the end, you could start your degree with nothing and accumulate a fortune as you go.
4) The collection of classroom credits would still be exhausting, but you would finally be afforded the opportunity to duel that asshole from calculus tutorial. 5) Even with different options to choose from, dialogue between classroom peers would still probably feel very one-dimensional and contrived.
9) All the egregious mistakes and glitches caused by the course selection process could be fixed with a patch from the main architects themselves (that is, if they feel like releasing one). 10) In one fashion or another, an old white guy would still probably end up being your main antagonist.
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Maia Odegaard / Business Manager
maia@the-peak.ca
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Humour
Ty Knoll Peak Associate
July 25, 2016
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